Greatest ALBUM ever ??

[SEAWOLF97]

.
well, the "Greatest ROCK song EVER ?" thread produced a good discussion and pointed me towards some that were new to me....so imitation is ....? ... the basis for another thread :D

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?24350-Greatest-ROCK-song-EVER

Greatest ALBUM ever ??

not limited to RocK or any specific genre ....entire albums , not individual songs.

I get many repeat plays on ...

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Abraxis - Santana
Eldorado - ELO
A Space in Time - Ten Years After
...and lately
Tarkio - Brewer & Shipley
Rubber Soul - Fab Four
...and
Numbers 5 & 9 - LVB
...lastly
Le Quattro Stagioni - AV

[Ducatista47]

Rock, Pretenders II. Runners up, Concrete Blonde's Mexican Moon, Velvet Underground's White light/White Heat and Santana's Moonflower. Most talented Artist in Rock, Neil Young, hands down. To pick one of his, Tonight's The Night. But I can't pick one. If you haven't guessed, I am not a Classic Rock guy and have a particular allergy to power ballads.

"Classical," The Solo Piano Music of Arnold Schoenberg. Runners up, The Goldberg Variations (1981) and The Art Of The Fugue, both Bach and all played by Glenn Gould.

Jazz, Consecration by the Bill Evans Trio. Runners up, about a thousand recordings by Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sun Ra, etc. etc. The talent pool is too deep in Jazz to compare with pop music as a genre. Who could pick just one or two? Not me, anyway. And no, I do not consider Kind Of Blue to stand above all others. Not lame, but pretty tame as far as I am concerned.

Blues, The Complete Recordings Of Robert Johnson.

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo by the Birds is tops or nearly in Country Rock. Call it a special award! Runners up, Poco by Poco and Running by the Desert Rose Band.

Acoustic Music, non-Jazz or Folk - The David Grisman Quintet, 1977, with Tony Rice and Darol Anger. Alison Krause, any release with her super talented band, Union Station. Not Raising Sand, which to my ears is closer to pounding sand. And I do like Robert Plant.

[BMWCCA]

Jazz, Consecration by the Bill Evans Trio.



Can you offer a point to the version you'd suggest that's available on CD? That title offers some confusing choices!

[Bern1]

Well now, that's a huge topic! I would think that this would only include only albums designed as such, which pretty much excludes everything before 1966 or so.....

I'd have to devote some serious consideration to the issue before I picked one of the following:

Electric Ladyland
Sgt. Pepper
Dark Side of the Moon
Allman Bros live at the Fillmore East

then there's all that great Blue Note stuff that I just excluded by date!:

Art Blakey, the Big Beat
Jackie McLean, Bluesnik
Horace Parlan, Speakin My Piece
Horace Silver, Song for My Father

Ok, I give up for tonight....I'll have to sleep on it!

[Ducatista47]

Can you offer a point to the version you'd suggest that's available on CD? That title offers some confusing choices!

I can help you there. Consecration: The Final Recordings Part 2 and The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings are again for sale. Set Google to "Shopping" and type in each title (or the short title and Bill Evans). Expect to pay about a hundred dollars for each eight CD set from his last recorded performances, eight nights in San Francisco. One collection is the first sets, the other the second sets. He was on fire and days from death.

Many feel he was strongest on nights three and four - he was very ill and could hardly breathe - but I like it all. On the last nights he let his band take more of the spotlight, and it is all good.

I found a great DVD a couple of months ago. It is called Bill Evans Trio: The Oslo Concerts. I bought it online. The first set is when Eddie Gomez first joined him. The second was the last time he was filmed; it is the only DVD I have seen with the last trio, the one on these CD sets.

I have been getting into DVDs of music performances lately. The Jazz Icons series - I get them at Borders - are a treasure trove of mostly 1960s TV performances from Europe. Dexter Gordon is a standout, as are Art Farmer (with a young, intense Jim Hall playing a Gibson ES-175 with two P-90 single coils, my favorite pickup of all time), Wes Montgomery, Bill Evans and Charles Mingus. The Rahsaan Roland Kirk edition is a real trip if you are not familiar with his work. Thank goodness this stuff survived.

I have also found some Glenn Gould sessions from his later recordings. I used a Christmas coupon to bag Remember That Night David Gilmour Live At The Royal Albert Hall for five dollars. An outstanding pick, also from Borders, is Weather Report Live At Montreux 1976. This was the band that later cut Heavy Weather, and I like this set even better. The only mystery is Wayne Shorter having very little to do. If he were in a band of mine, I might let someone else play once in a while. :D

Sorry to have drifted a little off topic.

Clark

PS Here is what Consecration is all about:

By Bill Evans Trio - JVC Victor (2002) - Cool, Jazz Instrument, Modal Music
While it's true that this eight-CD box set was issued in Japan and in Europe briefly, none of its performances have been heard in any form in the United States. This is the companion piece to Milestone's previously issued eight-CD The Last Waltz. Like the previous collection, these live dates with Evans' final trio -- Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums -- were recorded at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco between August 31 and September 7, 1980, about a week before Evans' death (September 15, 1980). What separates the two is that this set is comprised primarily of first sets. If one assembles these two collections with the Warner Bros.-released final Village Vanguard concerts, Turn Out the Stars, there is undeniable evidence that not only was Evans in a state of creative rebirth at the end of his life, but was perhaps at his zenith as a composer, arranger, and -- above all -- as an improviser. The excellent and technically revelatory liner notes to this collection by Bob Doerschuk go a long way toward explaining exactly what it was that Evans was up to on that stand with his piano and his band. They offer lucid, accessible, and picturesque descriptions of the mechanics of the music here, so there is no reason to discuss them in this review. What is most important is the intensity and emotional honesty of the performances, and, of course, the nearly spiritual communication between the members of the trio.
Over eight CDs, listeners are treated to 68 performances of 28 tunes, the vast majority of which are foundation planks of American pop song composers from Rodgers & Hart to Jimmy Van Heusen to Henry Mancini to Paul Simon to Bobbie Gentry. Many are Evans staples, with "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," "My Romance," "My Foolish Heart," "But Beautiful," "Like Someone in Love," "Someday My Prince Will Come," "Days of Wine and Roses," "I Do It for Your Love," etc., among them. There are nine Evans originals (and one that should be): "Re: Person I Knew," "The Two Lonely People," "Your Story," "Laurie," "Turn Out the Stars," "Knit for Mary F.," "Bill's Hit Tune," "Tiffany," and "Letter to Evan." The one that should be is "Song From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)." No one should harbor the illusion that the music on Consecration is in any way inferior to that found on The Last Waltz. First and second sets are, more often than not, articulated in different languages. The proof here is in the grooves: The Evans trio comes out of the box on disc one from August 31 steaming. This version of "Re: Person I Knew" sounds like it's an encore after a full evening spent in deep concentration with the band. The fluidity of whirlwind improvisational ideas around the tune's changes and its rhythm is startling for a first track. There is no hesitation anywhere in the heart of the music, with Evans swirling around his rhythm section and Johnson and LaBarbera turning all of those ideas into a shifting, swirling mass of harmonic elegance that turns not back on itself, but toward the heart of musical communication and blows it wide open for the common listener to take in. Elsewhere, such as on the three versions of "Song From M*A*S*H," Evans and Johnson take the introspective melody, clip its ends, and create a dynamic and shimmering tension that LaBarbera then moves into scintillating overdrive. The contrapuntal middles of the versions by Evans, as he runs through and around the basslines with trills and dropping fat open chords in the syncopation, are exhilarating almost beyond measure. On "Two Lonely People," Evans tosses a changeup into the mix that turns around the balladic nature of the tune and instead puts forth its swinging harmonic shifts and chromatic shapes. The interplay between Evans and Johnson halfway through is a nearly symbiotic communication, one that Evans hadn't enjoyed since he played with Scott LaFaro in his second trio. Evans goes on mostly alone after this exchange, incorporating every harmonic and intervallic shift into the base of the melody until the pair comes back in to turn up the heat on the finish.
As the CDs play on, the renditions of these tunes, played night after night, become more exotic and more adventurous, but no less focused or disciplined. It's as if there is more order, not less -- more control of how the music speaks through the trio and more dynamic tension put forth in the music. It is as if there were so much more at stake later in the band's stand than at its commencement. In all, there isn't a letdown in any of these sets. The repetition becomes necessary when one hears the entire narrative expanded. In fact, it now behooves fans to hear each evening as it was played out, first and second sets played out in sequence. Like the aforementioned collections, the sound on this box is top-notch, even crystalline. No doubt many collectors have this material already -- they paid a lot more for it, too. However, for any Evans fan looking to investigate his late period, this is as fine as any a place to start. But be forewarned: This is the beginning of a very addictive -- and extremely moving -- listening experience. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

[Hoerninger]

I would like to suggest
THE WHO - Live at Leeds
DEEP PURPLE - Made (Live) in Japan.

I follow the remarks about Alison Krauss' work.

PINK FLOYED -The Dark side of the moon of course
But preferably the DVD A version (DSOTM only per download), Remember that night is dispensable in comparison (but I'm glad to have both).
____________
Peter

[pos]

Serge Gainsbourg, Histoire de Melody Nelson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoire_de_Melody_Nelson)

[SEAWOLF97]

very honorable mention should go to:

The Doors - The Doors
Strange Days - The Doors

First - CCR
Willie & the Poor Boys - CCR
Pendulum - CCR
Cosmos Factory - ( I forget who did that one)

1/2/3 - Led Zepp
The Book of the Talesyn - Deep Purple
Shades - Deep Purple

Exile on Main Street - Stones
Let it Bleed - Stones
Beggars Banquet - Stones
and even ..Their Satanic Majesties Request - Stones ;)

[richluvsound]

My 2 cents worth ..... and in no particular order :

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells

Pink Floyd - Animals

David Bowie - Aladinsane

Deep Purple - Machine Head

Sex pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks

The The - Mind Bomb

Roxy Music - Roxy Music


I have chosen bands that stood on the shoulders of the great rock bands and then went on to pioneer
sub- genres

Rich

[BMWCCA]

I can help you there. Consecration: The Final Recordings Part 2 and The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings are again for sale. Set Google to "Shopping" and type in each title (or the short title and Bill Evans). Expect to pay about a hundred dollars for each eight CD set from his last recorded performances, eight nights in San Francisco. One collection is the first sets, the other the second sets. He was on fire and days from death.


I checked already and was confused by the Part 2, V.1, V.2, V.3.

Safe to assume that these are the ones to get?:
http://www.amazon.com/Consecration-Final-Recordings-Part-2/dp/B00006HIBI/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1302926913&sr=1-1
and
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Waltz-Final-Recordings-Live/dp/B00004YLJR/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1302926913&sr=1-2

Thanks. I always enjoy your suggestions and have yet to be disappointed. :applaud:

[Ducatista47]

I checked already and was confused by the Part 2, V.1, V.2, V.3.

Safe to assume that these are the ones to get?:
http://www.amazon.com/Consecration-Final-Recordings-Part-2/dp/B00006HIBI/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1302926913&sr=1-1
and
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Waltz-Final-Recordings-Live/dp/B00004YLJR/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1302926913&sr=1-2

Thanks. I always enjoy your suggestions and have yet to be disappointed. :applaud:
Yes, those are the ones. For even further financial pain, note that both are available with Turn Out The Stars: Final Village Vanguard Recordings. That would be the same trio. I have not heard these recordings, but I have just ordered them myself. At a shocking $215.27 they can all be yours. Note that the first trio's best output can be had for $17.49 in Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961. A remastered set of the entire gig, introductions, chatter and all - like you were there. The classic material from Sunday At The Village Vanguard, Waltz For Debbie and more. No more carping about the first trio being the best. Now we can decide for ourselves, or better, enjoy them both. Personally, I agree with the review. I think Bill saved the best for last.

I don't think you will be disappointed in the music, but if you are not a serious fan of Bill Evan's music you will be disappointed in the price. I would be a miserable bastard, I am sure, if I mention that Consecration is available for special order on three sites in the Japanese CDs - at $250 to $300! Nice Japanese CDs with Obi are $35 each, if you can find them, so the price in in line, but good grief.

But I will post this excerpt from an Amazon review to answer my long asked question: how could a nearly dead man play his very best?

How to explain this extraordinary demonstration by a human being who would virtually self-destruct the following week? Little has been said about what a perfect mechanical specimen Bill was, practically "designed" for one purpose: to the play the piano. His exceptionally thick and heavy fingers, his hand position, his arm placement--none of these deserted him even when the internal organs had gone. The combination of muscle memory and a mind capable of focusing on nothing beyond the musical instant managed to keep death at bay through the vitality of art.

The music herein is light years beyond what any pianist since has been able to conceive let alone execute. The only "faults" that might be weighed against any part of it are, first, that Bill occasionally has a tendency to get ahead of himself--the force of his passion and complexity of his ideas simply providing more than the moment can bear. All the more remarkable that the form holds, after bending sufficiently to create dramatic tensions that underscore the magnitude of the artist's grandiose design and achievement. Second, Bill invites some disruption of continuity and let-up of dramatic urgency whenever he defers to solos by Johnson or LaBarbara. But these moments, too, are understandable--respites that allow the pianist to gather his strength for yet another glorious burst of lyric energy.

[Allanvh5150]

What is the definition of greatest?

Biggest selling album....Michael Jacksons "Thriller"

Biggest selling live album....Peter "Frampton Comes Alive"

Most radio songs off one album....Def Leppard "Hysteria"

Biggest selling rock album....AC/DC "Back in black"

Biggest selling country album....Shania Twain "come on over"

Biggest selling band.... The Beetles

2nd Biggest selling band....ABBA

Thes are without a doubt, the greatest albums ever.

Allan.

[Ducatista47]

To borrow the publishing nugget - If it sells it smells. :D

[Allanvh5150]

To borrow the publishing nugget - If it sells it smells. :D

Very narrow minded. Do you not think that music sells because people like it? :blink:

I know that is a hard concept to grasp....

[SEAWOLF97]

What is the definition of greatest?

Biggest selling album....Michael Jacksons "Thriller"

Biggest selling live album....Peter "Frampton Comes Alive"

Most radio songs off one album....Def Leppard "Hysteria"

Biggest selling rock album....AC/DC "Back in black"

Biggest selling country album....Shania Twain "come on over"

Thes are without a doubt, the greatest albums ever.

Allan.

WOW, I have NONE of those , nor any desire to hear them either ....:eek:

the best selling US album was "Eagles Greatest Hits" , which I do have.

woo hoo witchy woman
see how high she flies
woo hoo witchy woman
she got the moon in her eyes
.:D

[richluvsound]

Very narrow minded. Do you not think that music sells because people like it? :blink:

I know that is a hard concept to grasp....
Al,


You must live up one of those beautiful mountains down there with thin air ..... Commercial radio and the top forty are big business . IMHO, art and commerce are diametrically opposed by definition :) Do you really measure greatness in terms of $$$$$$ ?

BTW, another opinion , of which I seem to be in great abundance , a timeless classic !

[SEAWOLF97]

BTW, another opinion , of which I seem to be in great abundance , a timeless classic !

Greatest lyric ever ..

"You're breakin' my heart - You're tearing it apart so fuck you"

another honorable mention , one of my DIDs

Building the Perfect Beast - Don Henley

[Ducatista47]

Very narrow minded. Do you not think that music sells because people like it? :blink:

I know that is a hard concept to grasp....
OK, another long time Yank cultural observation - The masses are asses.

These phrases are from the professionals- book and music publishers, record label executives and A & R men. For every Wallace Stevens sale there is a truckload of romance novels with Fabio on the cover.

We don't confuse reality with cultural elitism. We are not Soviet revisionists! ;)

[hjames]

woo hoo witchy woman
see how high she flies
woo hoo witchy woman
she got the moon in her eyes
.:D

Wow - that some serious mass market top40 stuff ...:D
... as our friends overseas have said ...
What a load a shite!

That doesn't make it great, it just means it sold a lot ...
and puts me in mind of the PT Barnum quote ...
"Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public."

[sonofagun]

The Beetles? Never heard of them.



"Greatest" is rather a subjective term pretty much determined by individual tastes.

How about "landmark" albums?

Under that subject let me list a couple in Jazz:

Time Out - Dave Brubeck Quartet (and the next three in the "Time" series)

1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert - Benny Goodman (a slight miracle it was recorded)

[richluvsound]

Greatest lyric ever ..

"You're breakin' my heart - You're tearing it apart so fuck you"

another honorable mention , one of my DIDs

Building the Perfect Beast - Don Henley

Speaking of Don ....." Hotel California" has not been mentioned yet !

[BMWCCA]

What is the definition of greatest?

2nd Biggest selling band....ABBA

Thes are without a doubt, the greatest albums ever.


The best-selling car is normally the Toyota Camry. It does nothing well other than doing nothing horribly. Last month the Nissan Altima beat it for #1 in sales. No one ever called either the "greatest" or "the best" at anything other than selling.

The best-selling vehicle in the USA is the Ford F150 pickup.
Not the best, just the best-selling. There's a big difference.

Or put it this way: MP3 downloads sell better than LPs or Red Book CDs. Certainly that's a comparison anyone here can understand.

[Allanvh5150]

The best-selling car is normally the Toyota Camry. It does nothing well other than doing nothing horribly. Last month the Nissan Altima beat it for #1 in sales. No one ever called either the "greatest" or "the best" at anything other than selling.

The best-selling vehicle in the USA is the Ford F150 pickup.
Not the best, just the best-selling. There's a big difference.

Or put it this way: MP3 downloads sell better than LPs or Red Book CDs. Certainly that's a comparison anyone here can understand.

I cant believe that you would compare the best selling car in the world, the one most people can afford, to the best selling album in the world, the one the most people like. Music is pretty much the same price no matter the genre. Music is purchased because people like it. Cars on the otherhand, are purchased because that particular model is the model the masses can afford.I am sure your average Toyota driver would rather be driving something else.

What is your deffinition of "Best"?

[Allanvh5150]

WOW, I have NONE of those , nor any desire to hear them either ....:eek:

the best selling US album was "Eagles Greatest Hits" , which I do have.

woo hoo witchy woman
see how high she flies
woo hoo witchy woman
she got the moon in her eyes
.:D

Actually it was Michael Jackson's Thriller..........:blink:

I have both

[BMWCCA]

I cant believe that you would compare the best selling car in the world, the one most people can afford, to the best selling album in the world, the one the most people like. Music is pretty much the same price no matter the genre. Music is purchased because people like it. Cars on the otherhand, are purchased because that particular model is the model the masses can afford.I am sure your average Toyota driver would rather be driving something else.

What is your deffinition of "Best"?

Believe it. And you're wrong, simply put.

Remember the old Monty Python piece on "Buying an Argument"?

The Camry isn't the cheapest car available. It is what people buy the most. The prices on a Camry range from $20,000 to $30,000 USD. A Ford F150 ranges from $22,415 to $51,140. There are cheaper Toyotas and there are cheaper Fords, Chevys, Kias, Hyundais, and Hondas. You were the one equating popularity with "greatness", not me. The question wasn't "best" it was "greatest". While those may mean the same thing to many people, nothing about either implies ubiquity or even popularity.

Semantic arguments on the Internet always bring out the worst in everyone. I know what "best" means to me. What does it mean to you? Cheapest? Most common? Most popular? We can define this and we can have opinions on it with respect to albums. It's not like asking "What is the greatest color?"

Blue!



best |best| superlative of good .
adjective
of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality : the best pitcher in the league | how to obtain the best results from your machine | her best black suit.
• most enjoyable : some of the best times of my life.
• most appropriate, advantageous, or well advised : do whatever you think best | it's best if we both go.
great |grāt|
adjective
1 of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average : the article was of great interest | she showed great potential as an actor.
• very large and imposing : a great ocean between them.
• [ attrib. ] used to reinforce another adjective of size or extent : a great big grin.
• [ attrib. ] used to express surprise, admiration, or contempt, esp. in exclamations : you great oaf!
• (also greater) [ attrib. ] used in names of animals or plants that are larger than similar kinds, e.g., great auk, greater flamingo.
• ( Greater) [ attrib. ] (of a city) including adjacent urban areas : Greater Cleveland.
2 of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above the normal or average : the great Italian conductor | we obeyed our great men and leaders | great art has the power to change lives.
• ( the Great) a title denoting the most important person of the name : Alexander the Great.
• informal very good or satisfactory; excellent : this has been another great year | what a great guy | wouldn't it be great to have him back? | [as exclam. ] “Great!” said Tom.
• [ predic. ] informal (of a person) very skilled or capable in a particular area : a brilliant man, great at mathematics.
3 [ attrib. ] denoting the element of something that is the most important or the most worthy of consideration : the great thing is the challenge.
• used to indicate that someone or something particularly deserves a specified description : I was a great fan of Hank's.

[Allanvh5150]

Believe it. And you're wrong, simply put.

Remember the old Monty Python piece on "Buying an Argument"?

The Camry isn't the cheapest car available. It is what people buy the most. The prices on a Camry range from $20,000 to $30,000 USD. A Ford F150 ranges from $22,415 to $51,140. There are cheaper Toyotas and there are cheaper Fords, Chevys, Kias, Hyundais, and Hondas. You were the one equating popularity with "greatness", not me. The question wasn't "best" it was "greatest". While those may mean the same thing to many people, nothing about either implies ubiquity or even popularity.

Semantic arguments on the Internet always bring out the worst in everyone. I know what "best" means to me. What does it mean to you? Cheapest? Most common? Most popular? We can define this and we can have opinions on it with respect to albums. It's not like asking "What is the greatest color?"

Blue!

Well duh.....people buy toyotas because the can. people dont buy a specific album because it fits their price bracket. Look at it another way: The greatest number of albums sold by title, is thriller. Now argue the point on that one.

[BMWCCA]

Well duh.....people buy toyotas because the can. people dont buy a specific album because it fits their price bracket. Look at it another way: The greatest number of albums sold by title, is thriller. Now argue the point on that one.
What IS your point? You seem to keep insisting that the album with with the most sales is "the greatest album ever". If that's what it means for you, then fantastic for you. We certainly don't need this thread anymore. Question asked and answered. QED.

I have no doubt that for many here that's not sufficient criteria. Not all of us are lemmings and I don't believe the OP was simply asking which album sold the most. :dont-know:

Assuming you just missed the point, can I ask if you feel the Toyota Camry is the greatest car ever made? I believe I once heard the top-selling "car" ever is actually the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. Certainly not the "greatest car" in anyone's mind over about six-years old.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
.
How any thread (no matter how innocent) can go "off the rails" / " in the weeds " so fast
How threads end up being arguments to answer a simple question
How these threads get pasted with non-related pictures (now removed)

How much fun it is to see your thread destabilized and spin out of control

I shudder to think of how the outside world reads/sees LHF ...:eek::eek::eek:

OBTW...........I am capable of looking up sales figures ... was asking your personal opinion
of which albums are greatest TO YOU ...(as one member is fond of saying ..SHEESH :eek: )

[SEAWOLF97]

Actually it was Michael Jackson's Thriller..........:blink:

I have both


Straight from the RIAA itself:

Top 100 Albums


(http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php)

(http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=tblTop100&action=) Level Title Artist Label

29 EAGLES/THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971 - 1975 EAGLES
29 THRILLER JACKSON, MICHAEL EPIC/LEGACY
23 LED ZEPPELIN IV LED ZEPPELIN ATLANTIC
23 THE WALL PINK FLOYD COLUMBIA

http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTop100

[BMWCCA]

Top 100 Albums
EAGLES/THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971 - 1975 EAGLES
THRILLER JACKSON, MICHAEL EPIC/LEGACY

Proud to say I own neither. ;)

A list of top albums that includes Britney Spears should certainly disprove any theory of correlation between sales-numbers and greatness. :rotfl:


Quality not Quantity! :thmbsup:

[Allanvh5150]

Straight from the RIAA itself:

Top 100 Albums
[/URL]

(http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php)


(http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=tblTop100&action=) Level Title Artist Label

29 EAGLES/THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971 - 1975 EAGLES
29 THRILLER JACKSON, MICHAEL EPIC/LEGACY
23 LED ZEPPELIN IV LED ZEPPELIN ATLANTIC
23 THE WALL PINK FLOYD COLUMBIA

[URL]http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTop100

Priceless. Thriller has sold 120 million Albums worldwide. the Eagles greatest hits has sold somewhere in the mid 40's.....

[hjames]

Priceless. Thriller has sold 120 million Albums worldwide. the Eagles greatest hits has sold somewhere in the mid 40's.....

You should probably start a thread for "Top selling album" - those may be the largest sellers, but that doesn't make them the "greatest album"!

Top sales is just record company mumbo-jumbo with how many units are pushed out the door, and all of that. Payola and radio airplay and all of that entered into it ...

That's not what Seawolf wanted for this thread he named "Greatest Album" ...

I could argue about how Sgt Pepper and Pet Sounds fought to change the very nature of albums -
even Their Santanic majesties request tried crashing THAT party ...
Les Paul and his multitrack revolutions are certainly pretty Great

[SEAWOLF97]

Priceless. Thriller has sold 120 million Albums worldwide.

Alan ...it seems you did not read the premise of the thread or its comments ...

but as long as you are making claims like the above quote , please provide a link to that fact... I gave an actual RIAA link

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) , the official guys who keep track of this meaningless stuff.

see ? SOG gets it..



"Greatest" is rather a subjective term pretty much determined by individual tastes.


was asking your personal opinion
of which albums are greatest TO YOU ...

[Allanvh5150]

Alan ...it seems you did not read the premise of the thread or its comments ...

but as long as you are making claims like the above quote , please provide a link to that fact... I gave an actual RIAA link

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) , the official guys who keep track of this meaningless stuff.

see ? SOG gets it..

Well here is a link but there are many others....RIAA is within the USA, not worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide

I am not saying that this album is the best ever but when someone uses the word "greatest" what are they asking? 120 million people can't be wrong can they? I guess in the eyes of some members here, they can......

[Allanvh5150]

And just in case you want some more reading, here is an RIAA link.

http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblDiamond

Can you tell me the name of the album at the top?

[SEAWOLF97]

And just in case you want some more reading, here is an RIAA link.

http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblDiamond

Can you tell me the name of the album at the top?


Priceless. Thriller has sold 120 million Albums worldwide.

read the chart .....level 29 = 29 million NOT 120 million...

I'm done with you Alan, you just don't "get" the thread.

[Allanvh5150]

read the chart .....level 29 = 29 million NOT 120 million...

I'm done with you Alan, you just don't "get" the thread.


You sir, are an idiot. RIAA is for sales in the US, that album has sold 120 million copies worldwide. :blink:

Making it the greatest selling album of all time.

[John]

.
.
How any thread (no matter how innocent) can go "off the rails" / " in the weeds " so fast
How threads end up being arguments to answer a simple question
How these threads get pasted with non-related pictures (now removed)

How much fun it is to see your thread destabilized and spin out of control

I shudder to think of how the outside world reads/sees LHF ...:eek::eek::eek:

OBTW...........I am capable of looking up sales figures ... was asking your personal opinion
of which albums are greatest TO YOU ...(as one member is fond of saying ..SHEESH :eek: )

And it always seems to be the same usual suspects:crying:

[SEAWOLF97]

And it always seems to be the same usual suspects:crying:

yup, I was going to note that we now seem to have a NZ version of that UK guy , except the UK guy can do math...

He claims 120 million worldwide sales of an album ,,,,I ask for links , he can't provide any , in fact , I checked Google...nobody else seems to know that 120 million number either...they just have wildly varying guesses that change by website since overseas sales are not tracked accurately. The sites that liked the album guesstimate it higher ...even Wiki has no clue.

"Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide), with sales estimated by various sources as somewhere between 65 and 110 million copies worldwide"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_%28album%29

does this make sense to you ? ..estimates that disagree by 45 million units ??

120 million total worldwide minus the certified 29 million US sales = 91 million (more than 3x the US total amount) for the rest of the world...are there that many turntables in the rest of the world ?

I guess he can believe any number he wants ...although it doesn't pertain to the premise of this thread, and is just troll bait. Another add to the ignore list.

[rusty jefferson]

When I first put the needle down on these records, things changed in my world. Not always change for the better, but the world seemed different while listening.

Kind of Blue
Are You Experienced?
Sticky Fingers
Abbey Road
Europe '72 (sorry)
Dark Side of the Moon
Horses
Remain in Light

[hjames]

Thanks for the reminders on the Bill Evans discs ... Amazon also has a crazy-cheap price on Turn Out the Stars - $39.71 - thats flat crazy for a 6 disc box set! Money is a bit tight right now for buying the 2 $100 each box sets, but the 6 disc set is impossible to ignore at that price!

We got the Bill Evans Oslo concert DVD from netflix last year - a very nice recording of his work.

Edit - 10:30AM -
Just checked and The last Waltz is now available from Amazon/Newbury comics New for $69.99 ... again, a heck of a discount over the $100 price (supersaving shipping, too!)



I can help you there. Consecration: The Final Recordings Part 2 and The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings are again for sale. Set Google to "Shopping" and type in each title (or the short title and Bill Evans). Expect to pay about a hundred dollars for each eight CD set from his last recorded performances, eight nights in San Francisco. One collection is the first sets, the other the second sets. He was on fire and days from death.

Many feel he was strongest on nights three and four - he was very ill and could hardly breathe - but I like it all. On the last nights he let his band take more of the spotlight, and it is all good.

I found a great DVD a couple of months ago. It is called Bill Evans Trio: The Oslo Concerts. I bought it online. The first set is when Eddie Gomez first joined him. The second was the last time he was filmed; it is the only DVD I have seen with the last trio, the one on these CD sets.





Sorry to have drifted a little off topic.

Clark

PS Here is what Consecration is all about:

If one assembles these two collections with the Warner Bros.-released final Village Vanguard concerts, Turn Out the Stars, there is undeniable evidence that not only was Evans in a state of creative rebirth at the end of his life, but was perhaps at his zenith as a composer, arranger, and -- above all -- as an improviser. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

[svollmer]

Greatest Album Ever? That's not even a subjective question. It's a well-documented fact that the greatest album ever recorded is "Welcome to the Rat Race" by Vollmer. Judging by some of the comments above, the proof is that only 1,000 copies have been sold worldwide AND nobody knows who the heck this band is. :rotfl:

BUT, I'd be willing to say it's the worst, most commercial, down-to-the-lowest-common-denominator drek ever recorded if you all will help out and buy 1,000,000 of them off me! :duck:

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Vollmer

All kidding aside, I love some of the top selling albums listed above and I also love some really obscure stuff most people have never heard of. I agree that we should be talking about the greatest album ever to each respondent.

[Ducatista47]

Thanks for the reminders on the Bill Evans discs ... Amazon also has a crazy-cheap price on Turn Out the Stars - $39.71 - thats flat crazy for a 6 disc box set! Money is a bit tight right now for buying the 2 $100 each box sets, but the 6 disc set is impossible to ignore at that price!

I was just playing my copy of Turn Out the Stars for the first time and am comparing it to Consecration. Frankly the difference is startling. I am glad I now have the Village Vanguard recording of this trio, but no comparison. This is of course picking nits, as Turn Out the Stars is merely great (great!).

But Consecration is not only recorded much more to my liking, but the music on it is even more special, by quite a bit. The recording is much less dry and miked very differently. The playing is the best he ever did, ever. It is a level above what came before, even though only a few months had passed. It is like hearing Glenn Gould playing Bach on his beloved Steinway CD318, that is to say perfection, surprising perfection because we had no idea it could ever be this good.

I have to say Turn Out The Stars is worth forty dollars, and Consecration is worth one hundred - or even three hundred, if Bill Evans is your thing. What about The Last Waltz? It is at the same level, pretty much, but I have always personally liked Consecration even better. YMMV. My best friend like The Last Waltz better.

[Hey19]

After Neil Young heard 'The Rockets' at the Whiskey A Go-Go in 1968, his first album recorded with this group, who would become Crazy Horse, set the tone for the Grunge movement . Danny Whitten(born in my hometown of Columbus, Ga.), Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot would join Neil in a breakthrough album that to this day he says is among his favorites. Less than six months later, Cinnamon Girl, Down By The River and Cowgirl In The Sand were forever stamped in the memories of the sixties generation.

[BMWCCA]

Cinnamon Girl, Down By The River and Cowgirl In The Sand were forever stamped in the memories of the sixties generation.I thought those were all the same song!

Kidding, of course. Great stuff from the artist my kids all call The Whiner. :applaud:

[Hey19]

I thought those were all the same song!

Kidding, of course. Great stuff from the artist my kids all call The Whiner. :applaud:

Kids say the darndest things. And sometimes adults.:p

[renerox]

Not an easy task... Gonna try anyway. One Lp per atist.
Part 1

1.JOHNNY BURNETTE & The Rock'n'Roll Trio - [1956]
2.Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley [1958]
3.Chuck Berry - Chuck Berry Is on Top [1959]
4.Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf [1962]
5.The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird [1964]
7.DICK DALE - Mr.Eliminator [1964]
8.The Hondells - Go Little Honda [1964]
9.The Buddies - Go Go With The Buddies [1965]
10.The Ventures - Batman Theme [1966]
11.Davie Allan & The Arrows -Cycle-delic Sounds [1968]
12.THE SONICS - Here Are [1965]
13.Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law [1966]
14.Love - Love [1966]
15.The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico [1967]
16.The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers [1968]
17.Downliners Sect - The Sect [1964]
18.The Sorrows - Take a Heart [1965]
19.YARDBIRDS - Yardbirds [Roger the Engineer] [1966]
20.The 13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere [1967]
21.The Litter - Distortions [1967]
22.The Music Machine - The Bonniwell Music Machine [1968]
23.The Doors - L.A. Woman[1971]
24.The Beatles - Rubber Soul [1965]
25.The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St. [1972]
26.Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk [1967]
27.Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! [1969]
28.THE STOOGES - Raw Power [1973]
29.MC 5 – High Time [1972]
30.Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action [1976]
31.New York Dolls - New York Dolls [1973]
32.T.REX – Electric Warrior [1971]
33.ROXY MUSIC – For Your Pleasure [1972]
34.DAVID BOWIE - Low [1977]
35.LOU REED – Transformer [1972]
36.JOHNNY THUNDERS – L.A.M.F.[1977]
37.BLONDIE – Parallel Lines[1978]
38.THE MODERN LOVERS - THE MODERN LOVERS [1976]
39.Richard Hell & The Voidoids – Blank Generation [1977]
40.RAMONES – Rocket To Russia [1977]
41.THE ELECTRIC CHAIRS - THE ELECTRIC CHAIRS [1978]
42.DMZ – DMZ [1978]
43.The Clash - The Clash [1977]
44.Television – Marquee Moon [1977]
45.Alan Vega – Collision Drive [1981]
46.Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks [1977]
47.The Undertones - The Undertones [1978]
48.The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus (IV) [1977]
49.IGGY POP – Lust For Life [1977]
50.Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen [1978]
51.The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us [1980]
52.The Gun Club - Fire of Love[1981]

[SEAWOLF97]

one of the albums that I come back to ..over & over is.....PF - WYWH

[Bern1]

Electric Ladyland

[cosmos]

So much great music...

My list would include, but not limited to:
Carole King: Tapestry
Chicago Transit Authority
James Taylor: JT
Yes: Fragile
Who: Tommy
Santana: Abraxas
Blood, Sweat & Tears: B, S &T
Deep Purple: Machine Head
Joe Walsh: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get
Al Stewart: Year of the Cat
Supertramp: Crime of the Century
Brian Bromberg: Wood
Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms
Mark Knopfler: Shangri-La
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run
Steppenwolf: Born to Be Wild
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Steely Dan: Aja
Robin Trower: Bridge of Sighs
Herbie Hancock: Headhunters
Jack Johnson: Brushfire Fairytales
Eagles: Desperado and Hotel California
Doobie Brothers: Captain & Me
Pink Floyd...

So many, many more..

Songs:
Iron Butterfly: Inna-Godda-da-vida
Edgar Winter: Frankenstein

[tom1040]

..to give this thread new life? The Light Pink album. To me, right now, superb. google and listen..recorded very well.:bouncy:

[SEAWOLF97]

.
have been listening and relistening to Jethro Tull's STAND UP and it is sure
a well thought out, well played, and enjoyable album (for me) ;)

[lgvenable]

If I had to pick out a single album; I'd be hard pressed:

Either Da Beatles and their seminal "Abby Road" :applaud: or
Steve Winwood's album that brought him back:"Back in the High Life" ;)

That said got stuck in a Micky D's one night listening to the teenagers 3 cars back and an artist that howled. Combine that with cheap chinese amplifiers and speakers that weren't too expensive either; along with too much bass and absolutely no sound deadening>I couldn't figure out what was worse the truck buzzing from the bass or the artist who did not have a clue. That was a moment when I realized a lot of the young ones now don't have any musical tastes > the 60's to the 80's were music's golden years. Rap is the downfall of it all.:banghead:

[Krunchy]

If I had to pick out a single album; I'd be hard pressed:

Either Da Beatles and their seminal "Abby Road" :applaud: or
Steve Winwood's album that brought him back:"Back in the High Life" ;)

That was a moment when I realized a lot of the young ones now don't have any musical tastes > the 60's to the 80's were music's golden years. Rap is the downfall of it all.:banghead:

:D

Interesting choice on Steve Winwood, very talented but kind of gets lost in the shuffle so to speak. Abby Road is, well...Abby Road!....I have a friend of mine who still doesnt like the boys, just doesnt get it I suppose.